According to the Transportation Research Board statistics, in USA approximately 100 deaths and more than 25,000 injuries occur in school zones. However, few auto manufacturers including Audi and school bus producer Blue Bird among others have been working on technology that is designed to alert drivers when approaching school buses and school zones to avert such incidents.
The German automaker has been a leader in developing vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, referred to as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and has been using the technology for a few years. It is a feature in few of its production models that are capable of receiving information about traffic light changes ahead of time. The company now plans to use the same technology to make school zones and school buses safer.
According to an autoblog.com report, the company is one of the few that is testing the system, while others include Applied Information, Blue Bird, Commsignia, Qualcomm. The tech uses transmitters fitted on School Zone signs and School Bus Stop signs to send signals to drivers when they enter a school zone and are prompted to slow down. The signals are sent over 4G LTE and 5G cellular networks on a specially reserved band and when the car picks up that signal, it alerts the driver with a visual alert and sounds warning about approaching such a zone.
Although similar traffic sign recognition systems are available in many cars today, the upcoming tech will be useful for school bus stops. Especially on curvy or hilly roads where a driver might not be able to see the bus’s stop-arm sign or flashing lights. Audi with the help of Qualcomm and others wants to prevent these fatal violations from happening using V2X technology.The system is currently being tested in the city of Alpharetta in Georgia and let’s hope the tech can be used to keep people and children safer.
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